Family Guy: Air GriffinReview

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Peter Griffin barely gets off the ground.

By Levi Buchanan

There are two kinds of licensed games in this industry -- mobile and console. There are those that work within the boundaries created by the source material, and those that just take some kitchen drawer game play mechanics and slap licensed art and sound effects all over it. Guess which one Family Guy: Air Griffin falls under?

Air Griffin is set up by a very believable story within the Family Guy universe: Peter blows all of Meg's college tuition money on a medieval catapult. Right there, you have the makings of some fun jokes -- but not a very deep video game. Before being forced to return the catapult by his beleaguered wife, Lois, Peter decides he wants to set the world record for unaided human flight, but he'll need help from his entire family -- and God himself -- to do it.

To launch Peter, you set his power and angle via some basic meters. When the corpulent patriarch is in the air, you can help keep him aloft by calling down the thunder. You only have a few lightning bolts you can request from the Almighty, so use them wisely. As Peter flies through the heavens, you can leave him in a little ball or switch to a dive pose so he shoots down toward the pavement. Peter needs to hit the pavement every once in a while in order to get a boost from his family. The Griffin clan is stretched along the street in an endless loop, and every time Peter hits one as he bounces along the ground, they'll give him a little push.

There is a slight strategic element with striking family and friends (Quagmire joins the proceedings, but no Joe or Cleveland). A small meter at the bottom of the screen shows which two family members are coming up next and a slot machine along the top cycles through three tiny portraits of the family. If you strike one of Peter's family members on the street that is currently seen in the jackpot, you get an extra-large boost and gain more distance. If you can time your dive-bombs just right to hit featured family members, you can really post some solid distance.

But let's be honest here -- this small bit of strategy does little to extend a very, very shallow experience. On my second try, without really trying, I posted just under 10,000 feet. And it took a few minutes to finish the run. Even with all the little sound clips you hear when hitting a "jackpot" family member (examples: Meg yells, "I hate you!" and Stewie calls you "fat man"), I got bored. After five long runs, I really wanted just to turn the game off. But I persevered. For you.

I tested Air Griffin on a Sony Ericsson s710a. The screens I include for you below, provided by Cingular, are just approximations of the final product. The sprites are completely static. Peter flies through the air, hits the ground, rolls into family members with the exact same face. His only "animation" is switching between his ball pose and dive pose. There are several Family Guy touches, such as an appearance by the Greased-Up Deaf Guy and the evil monkey, which terrorizes Chris when you hit him on a jackpot bounce.

The Verdict

Air Griffin is amusing for just a couple minutes -- but then even the most die-hard Family Guy fan will struggle to maintain interest. This isn't just a bad licnesed game, it's a bad game period. Shallow mechanics like these just don't hold water in today's mobile landscape -- this is the kind of game I would have expected in 2003.

This was just an excuse to use some sound clips and score downloads from Seth MacFarlane fans. Air Griffin further cements the problems with licensing movies and TV shows that don't already have elements that lend themselves to video games. South Park fans once suffered through some boring vids, apparently it's now time for Family Guy fans to do the same.